Wichita eagle., 1887-11-17
THE PAN HANDLE BOOM.
MoBEETIE, Tex, Nov. II, 1887.

see in the eastern states In October, but
never in November, we drove up the
beautiful valley of Red Deer in search o.
the town of Miami in Roberts county
the present terminus Of the Southern
Kansas railroad extension. This stream
heads on the plains, flows northeast and
empties into the Canadian river, near the
town of that name. 1t is a very pretty
stream. perhaps 50 miles in length; but
few settlers have located on it as yet.
but as the soil is good it will not be long
before it is settled. Some people might
think the land too sandy, but looking
closely at the excavations made by the
| graders the writer noticed that the sand
was only from twelve to fifteen inches in
| depth. when soil of the richest kind was
uncovered: soil Of this kind covered with
little sand is the most productive as it
| stands the drought much better. That
this sandy land will produce is shown by
the way wild grapes grow, and the
| heavy growth of grass there Is on it. The
soil of the valley of the Canadian IS of
this character, yea good crops were
grown there this season.
Before the sun had reached the me-
ridian it became SO warm that we were
compelled to remove our coats. Think
of this you of the north who are riding
around in heavy winter overcoats, and
YOU farmers who are compelled to work
| hard four or five months of the year
that YOUR stock may not starve the re-
mainder. Here the stock feed on the
range all the year and keep fat. and the
IA
wishes.
|. After a ride of twenty-six miles we
reached Miami. This station is in Rob
erts county. A town has been laid out
here by the town company Of the Atch-
ison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, Of
which Hon. L. E. Finch, of Burlingame,
is maIsager;there is not room for the town
TO spread much, as it is located in the
valley of the Red Deer, which is very
narrow here. There is nothing here as
yet with the exception Of a few tents.
Many expect this to make an important
point, but this am inclined to doubt,
as Canadian is only twcnty-six miles
from it and has the start. as well as
many other advantages.
Remaining over night we left for Mo
beetle the next morning, About two
miles from Miami we assembled a
steep hill and found ourselves on a. vast
table land This was the great Llano
Estacade, or Staked Plains. Looking
back and down toward Miami,
the country was rough and broken.
In every other direction it was
almost as level as floor. There are
number OF settlers located on these
plains on the road from Miami TO
MObeetie, having filed on school lands
that are to be had from the state on forty
years time by settling on and paying
interest at five per cent. on the purchase
price. The lands are rated at from two
to three dollars per acre. The land on
these plains or flats is very rich. 1t is
deep loan, varying from chocolate to
deep black, and from eighteen to twenty
feet in depth.
A short drive brought us to Mobeetie.
This is the oldest town in the Pan Handle
and the county seat Of Wheeler county.
1t is located on a sand hill near Sweet
water creek, one mile from TT. Elliott, a
United States military post. Mobeetie
was started soon after the post was built,
to act as a kind of necessary evil to the
post. Became an Quitting point for
buffalo hunters, who used to sell their
hides here and buy supplies. etc. Later
it has done large trade with ranchmen,
but this it has lost now, most of this
Trade going to Canadian. The town is
very quiet now with the exception of
some little real estate excitement caused
by the report that the st. l.. & S. I. r.
r. We're going to build west and would
run through their town. 1t looks as if
their chances for the road were very
small, from the fact that railroads build
towns Of their own and do not go out of
their way to run through town built
on sand bill as this one is.
Nobeetie is the home Of the Hon.
James n. Browning called by his con-
stituents ''Honest Jim') the representa-
tive from this district, as well as that Of
Col. Temple Huston the state senator
from this district. Col. Huston is a son
Of Gen. Sam Huston, called the father of
Texas. Mr.. Browning is very popular
with the settlers. but not so with the
cattlemen. He is engaged in discus
sion with Land Commissioner Hall and
the land board of this state now, trying
TO protect the settlers from the encroach-
ments of the cattlemen. There are a
number of commercial tourists here,
all branches Of trade, from
Wichita. They all seem to be well salts
fed with the orders they have taken
This Pan Handle country will all
be tributary to Wichita, if she will
only reach out and grasp it,
The writer wishing to pay his re-
spects to that cultured gentleman and
Capt. Geo. T. Price. called on him at
-, -
is we'll known to many of your readers,
as he visits Wichita often aud owns con-
siderable real estate there.
Fl. Elliott is located on a hill overlook !
ing Sweetwater creek. The garrison is /
composed of two companies of the 9Th |.
y. 5. Cavalry, two Of the cath (colored) /
Infantry and one of Cheyenne Indian /
scouts, all under command of Major Up /
ton, of the 9th L. S. Cavalry. The sol |
dlerS do not have TO visit the post traders |
store at this post. in search of amusement, |
but have libraries and reading rooms at |
tached 10 their quarters, where books !
and all the latest papers are TO be found /
They also have what is known in the
French army as ''Canteen," and is very
popular there. All the soldiers contrib ,
ute and buy billiard table. cigars. etc,
and elect one OF their number 10 run il .
for them. By this they save the post
traders high prices on cigars, beer, etc.
W. S. d.
y few days ago dispatch was sent
)ut over the wires announcing that on
account Of the accumulation of gas in
many cellars in East Liverpool, Ohio.
here was danger of that town being des-
royed by the gas being ignited The